


Peaceful

by thundercaya



Series: The Workplace Warzone [17]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cemetery, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-27 07:30:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15019703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thundercaya/pseuds/thundercaya
Summary: Thomas asks James to accompany him to the Jefferson family plot.





	Peaceful

Jefferson hadn’t done anything for Mother’s Day in years. Martha had never been able to have children and his own mother had passed when he was young, so aside from sending cards to his sisters and sisters-in-law, there wasn’t much else to do. For the same reasons, Father’s Day was no different. With no one to either please or disappoint, why bother?

Still, sometimes the onslaught of seasonal advertising got to him and he spent more time thinking about his parents than he’d prefer. He tried his best to busy himself with work and spend as much of his free time as possible with Madison, hoping to distract himself until both holidays passed, but when Mother’s Day hit and he realized he still had to endure for another month, he knew that if he didn’t do something about his feelings they’d come to a head.

A visit to the family plot seemed like a good start, though Jefferson hadn’t gone in quite some time. He didn’t like going alone, but he also didn’t want to ask one of his siblings to go with him. If they weren’t missing their parents at the moment he didn’t want to give them a reason to, and he also didn’t like for them to see that he was hurting. Martha used to go with him, but now she was someone else to visit.

Jefferson knew he should ask Madison directly, but he couldn’t seem to. Instead he simply asked the man to spend a weekend with him at his Virginia home.

Jefferson sat on his request for the duration of the drive on Friday night and all through Saturday. It wasn’t until Sunday morning over coffee and bagels that Jefferson got up the will to ask; “would you be willing to go with me to the cemetery?”

“Yes,” Madison said automatically. Then; “Wait. Who’s dead?”

“No one recently. I just haven’t been by to visit my parents lately.”

Madison stared down at his coffee. “Oh.”

“You don’t have to-”

“No, no, I want to go with you,” Madison assured, meeting Jefferson’s eyes. “Do I, uh, need to dress up? I didn’t pack for it.”

“No, you—have you never gone to a cemetery? I mean aside from a funeral.” Madison did have multiple deceased siblings, but not everyone wanted to be around departed loved ones.

Madison gave a half shrug. “I’ve been to a lot of cemeteries, but never to visit anyone. I’m really not sure of the protocol for that.”

“You don’t have to dress up. But what are you doing hanging out at random cemeteries for the sake of it?”

“They’re peaceful.”

Jefferson grinned. “Right. And you’re also a goth.

“I’m going to ignore that,” Madison said with a roll of his eyes “So, do we… need to stop anywhere? To get… flowers or something?”

Jefferson’s smile softened. “That’s an excellent idea.”

  
Jefferson placed a basket of chrysanthemums in front of his parents’ shared headstone while Madison stood back a ways, giving him space. Jefferson stayed silent; he didn’t think his parents were really there, or anywhere where they could hear him if he said anything. Realizing he might be a while, he looked over his shoulder at Madison. “You can sit down if you want.”

“No thanks,” Madison said. “There might be ants. And aunts.” In a rush he said; “sorry, reflex. That was in poor taste.”

Jefferson flashed a quick smile. “Aunt Judy’s on my cousin’s mantle, but she would have thought it was funny anyway, so don’t worry about it.”

“I take it you get your healthy sense of humor from your father’s family.”

Jefferson shoved his hands on his pockets as he gazed again at his parent’s headstones. “Well, on his side of the family, Aunt Judy was something of an anomaly. Dad was really stiff, honestly, but my mother was a fan of humor. She would have loved you, you know.”

Madison moved closer and set a hand on Jefferson’s shoulder. “Do you really thinks so?”

“Yeah, you’re exactly the kind of guy she was always telling my sisters to go for.”

“She encouraged your sisters to go for walking disasters?”

Jefferson patted the hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “No, she said to go for someone smart and successful, but make sure he’s funny so he won’t bore you to death. And make sure he supports you just as much as you support him. And if he’s good looking, consider it a bonus.”

“I’m maybe two of those things.”

Jefferson chuckled. “Well, you’re definitely funny. And more than that, you’re here with me right now, which I think would have gone the farthest for earning her approval.”

It was silent for a few moments, though when Madison spoke again it wasn’t difficult for Jefferson to imagine the thought trail that led to his next question.

“So… is Martha not in your family plot?”

“No, I would have given you warning before bringing you here if she was.”

“You don’t have to shelter me from–”

“Not from her. From my… demeanor while being around her.”

“Right,” Madison muttered, obviously berating himself.

Rather than continue to draw attention to the error, Jefferson returned to Madison’s question.

“She wanted to be buried with _her_ family. These days, though, I kind of wish she’d chosen this plot. I….” Jefferson sighed deeply before going on. “Well, I know her relatives would let me in their plot, but… I wouldn’t be able to get you in.” He cleared his throat. “I-I mean, I’m sorry, that’s presumptuous. I’m sure your family–”

“My family does have a plot, yes, but honestly I don’t care about where I’m buried or who else is there. If you want to be with Martha that’s fine. After all, I get to be with you _now._ ”

“Right.” Jefferson huffed out a laugh. “I think you mentioned that you wanted to be… loaded into a canon and blasted into the sun?”

“Just into space in general. Having a destination feels like too much pressure to put on someone who can’t do anything about it anymore.”

“Well, they could launch me into space, too. Would be easier than trying to decide where I want to be buried. I guess it’s kind of like being buried nowhere, but also being with everyone because the entire universe is connected.”

“No, see, I wanted to be launched into space because it’s _not_ connected.”

“I guess it’s just a difference in perspective. But if it suits both our needs, it sounds good to me. Either way I think I’m ready to go.”

Madison stiffened. “ _What._ ”

“Home, I mean.”

Madison relaxed. “Oh. Are you sure? We can stay as long as you’d like.”

Jefferson shot him a crooked grin. “Come to think of it, did you know that Mary Shelley lost her virginity on her mother’s gr-”

“Time to go,” Madison said, turning away and heading down the hill.

Jefferson chuckled, and just in case his mother _was_ somewhere where she could hear him he said “sorry, Ma, it was a joke,” before following.


End file.
